PHInational.org

Three brief stories on direct care:

_________

Pioneer Network Extends Early Bird Registration

The registration deadline for the Pioneer Network‘s 2011 National Conference has been extended until Tuesday, June 7.

This year’s conference will take place in St. Charles, Missouri, from August 1-4.

The Pioneer Network is a leader in the culture change (pdf) movement and an advocate for person-directed care.

Effective June 27, Peter Reed, Ph.D., M.P.H., will take the helm as the organization’s new executive director.

Visit the Pioneer Network website to learn more about the conference and to register.

_________

Fund Created for Nursing Home Employees Hit by Tornado

The Missouri Health Care Association (MHCA) has established a charitable fund and grant program to help employees and their families who suffered damage from the devastating tornado that ripped through Joplin, Missouri, on May 22.

At least 10 nursing home residents and one employee were killed in the tornado, and three Joplin nursing homes are no longer habitable, according to McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.

More information on the fund and information on how to donate is available on at the MHCA website.

_________

Consumer Voice Publishes New Guide on Choice and Advocacy

The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care launched Piecing Together Quality Long-Term Care: A Consumer’s Guide to Choices and Advocacy, a national guide intended to:

• educate older adults and people with disabilities about options for long-term services and supports;
• empower consumers to become self-advocates for quality long-term care; and
• provide information and resources to assist people currently living in nursing homes to move back into the community.

The Consumer Voice has also created a document to assist groups that want to develop state-specific guides. Kansas, North Carolina, and Virginia have already published guides for consumers in their states.

– by Deane Beebe

National Family Caregivers Month

President Obama proclaimed November to be National Family Caregivers Month to “honor the millions of Americans who give endlessly of themselves to provide for the health and well-being of a beloved family member.”

This tradition began in 1997 when President Clinton first dedicated a full month of recognition to family caregivers.

PHI salutes Kathryn Simpson and all family caregivers — paid and unpaid — who make it possible for elders and people living with disabilities who need long-term services and supports, to live with dignity and as productively and independently as possible.

“It makes perfect sense to honor family caregivers,” said Donna Calame, executive director of the San Francisco In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Public Authority and PHI board member. “It also makes sense to pay family members for personal assistance they provide to a disabled family member when it helps keep the family unit together or delays and makes unnecessary more costly public institutional placement.”

“In a humane society, the stress of living with a disability would not be borne by the individual or affected family alone,” Calame said.

“In May, Congress approved paying family members who provide certain services to disabled returning vets from Iraq and Afghanistan. That is public policy that we should over time extend to all families,” she added.

Consumer-Directed Care

One model for delivery of home care and personal assistance services under public programs like the San Francisco IHSS Public Authority is the independent provider model — also known as consumer- or participant-directed care. In this model, which differs from an agency-based model, consumers or their representatives direct and control their services, including hiring, supervising, and dismissing their aides.

California (pdf) is one of 43 states that have a publicly funded consumer direction program. Yet in each state the consumer-directed options differ, and often vary by program within each state. Some states allow family members to be paid to provide care to their relatives.

Kathryn Simpson is a San Francisco-based independent provider who cares for her son Sam. She is a paid family caregiver.

– by Deane Beebe

Edward Rendell

Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell issued an executive order on September 16 that gives consumer-employed home care aides the ability to form a union.

About two weeks later, on September 29, the Pennsylvania Home Care Association (PHA) and the Coalition for R.E.A.L. (Respected, Empowered, Accessible, Loyal) Home and Community-Based Services petitioned the court for an injunction (pdf, 1.8 MB) to halt the Governor’s order.

According to a fact sheet released by the governor’s administration, Rendell issued the order to:

• Promote rebalancing in the state’s long-term care system
• Support the consumer-employer model of home care
• Build a stable and retainable home care workforce, which would also save taxpayers’ money

The executive order would also give consumer-employed homecare workers the “ability to form a union to improve wages, gain access to health benefits, and make other improvements to reduce turnover and stabilize the workforce,” the fact sheet explains.

The governor’s order would also establish a consumer board of older adults and people with disabilities who employ their own attendants and facilitate the establishment of a registry to help consumers find aides.

Lacks Authority and Violates Privacy

The Coalition for R.E.A.L. Home and Community Based Services — a group of home care providers whose members include the Pennsylvania Association of Area Agencies on Aging, United Cerebral Palsy of Pennsylvania, and PHA — states in a press release (Word doc) that the governor “lacks authority to issue the executive order because it seeks to create organizational rights for home care attendants, which are presently not recognized under state labor law.”

The coalition is also challenging the executive order because it “violates the privacy of homecare attendants and consumers who utilize the consumer-employer homecare model” by “requiring that their names and addresses be shared with a union.”

Modeled After Other States

Home care aides “have the right to decide whether they want to form or join their union,” states the administration’s fact sheet, which references nine other states that have implemented “similar initiatives that have been proven successful,” including Oregon, Michigan, Massachusetts, and California.

The request for an injunction was filed in the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court.

Home and community-based direct-care jobs are among the top ten fastest-growing occupations in Pennsylvania, according to PHI’s State Facts on the Pennsylvania Direct Care Workforce (pdf).

Between 2006 and 2016, job openings for personal and home care aides are expected to expand by 53 percent; those for home health aides are expected to expand by 48 percent.

– by Deane Beebe

A national survey conducted by PHI found that only one-third of states have developed a public “matching services registry.” Read the full story

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a final rule that will allow states to use their Medicaid funds for consumer-directed services without a Medicaid waiver.

Many more Medicaid beneficiaries will now be able to take charge of their own personal assistance services instead of having those services directed by an agency. Read the full story